io9: Shits all over long running fan fiction snark column.

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So Fan Fiction Friday has been amusing readers over on toplessrobot.com for about five years. Fanfic after fanfic snarked and/or reviewed with ruthless precision and screencaps from Scanners and Indiana Jones. As you do. The archive's still there if you missed it and fancy a chuckle btw.

Recently the man responsible moved to a considerably straighter laced site. His columns seemed to lose their sense of humor despite the odd bit making it through. But he assured he'd be able to keep doing FFF on io9. He assured without realising the RAGE BRIGADE of special snow flakes were readers.

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Over the past two weeks, io9 has been running new installments of Rob Bricken's Fan Fiction Friday column, which he brought over from his previous blog, Topless Robot. It's a column where Rob finds a piece of over-the-top fanfic and makes fun of it, Mystery Science Theater style. It is intended as self-parody, a fan making fun of fandom, but that is not how you perceived it. A massive outpouring of emails, comments, and tweets from all of you have made us realize that it's not going to work on io9.

"You humorless bastards."

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FFF made individual little guys feel shamed and mocked. And that's not OK.

God forbid the writer of Princess Peach getting raped fic should be shamed and mocked. And that was one of the better ones.

So, ok, the editor doesn't want to run snarks. STOP THE BULLIES she says The whining little badficcers have won. They happy? No! Because the editor didn't suck their withered peckers.

Check out this douche, "vulgarshudder_" aka "Mommy says I'm cool."

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Wow, real humility you showed in that editorial tone there. (And in case my sarcasm tone is lacking) NOT.

Basically we don't want to `shame the little guy`. I know you are saying you don't want to shame people, but you're still implying there IS something to be ashamed with these people's kinks, and EXPOSING it without 'context' was your bad. If only you could show the GOOD kinks maybe it would have been alright...hey Annalee, give me the link to your fanfic and we'll see how well it survives my grilling. Oh too embarrassed to even let people see it? Would be really shitty if someone put it up on a major blog to make fun of it wouldn't it. When you green lighted this was it really so hard to imagine if it was YOUR work being ripped to part for some guys` kicks who are more than likely will never GET fanfic because it doesn't cater to them?

And then Rob is like `well at least don't have to read your shitty fiction now, it sucked anyway` Yeah Rob you try and write something more than tearing apart someones weird fantasies, if you can...try not to be so intent on policing (why you so vehemently went after the ham fucking...bit Freudian dat) other peoples harmless kinks this time.

You really graciously humbled yourselves guys...or not, and gawker once again proves it's self the tabloid hacks of the bloggersphear.

So after that, check out a sensible thought from "James Post"

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I get the "it doesn't fit our site" argument, though I've seen these kinds of transitions before, and it usually just ends up with us all getting a more homogenized internet.

On the "shaming" point, though, here's where, as a liberal, I fail at liberalism.
I think some people should feel ashamed of themselves, and that not all choices should be equally celebrated and respected.

Including the choice to masturbate to brutal violence against women and children, or any of the other genuinely terrifying things I've seen on FFF.

There are, in fact, some situations that call for being impolite.

Ayup.

Bah.

I liked Fan Fiction Friday and now it ain't happening anymore and I am ranty. On the plus side, no further reason to go to io9

Shit. That sucks :c

Fair play to Rob Bricken, like, he's making money working for the new site. He needs to toe the line and edit out the funny. It's really the site's commentors I'm irritated wiv.

Wait...what? Are you fucking me? Well, figured it wasn't going to last for long.

No "Whose responsible this?" macro, Knorg?

I linked to the post with a shitload of 'em in another thread, I figured people could pick and choose!

Yet more for and against

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I also want to know if io9/Mr. Brinken are asking for permission before they publish excerpts of these writers' works. When the Pioneer Press did an article on blogs, they called me to ask to make sure it was okay to reprint A SINGLE LINE. I want to know that io9 is doing these writers the same courtesy. I bet not. I bet they feel free because we're a vulnerable community. I bet they don't even consider it for a second because what we write technically violates copyright in a way that makes us feel we have no redress, no rights, no sense that we DESERVE to be treated fairly.

Didn't ask permission to quote this. Fair use, yo.

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And I must ask…What the hell people? Is this really how it’s going to be going forward? Everything is great and nothing is worth being ashamed about? Stories about cartoon mice pleasuring each other through their diapers written under a pseudonym and published on a public forum must be treated with the same kid gloves we would a three year old’s drawing, lest the author become ashamed?

This isn’t mocking something beyond anyone’s control - nobody is born with an inherent need to write Fan Fiction about stars of popular animated movies. Nobody was being identified or outed, Rob didn’t rip these stories out of their diaries, these stories were posted on the internet under pen names. And far be it from me to employ the dreaded “Too much time on your hands” quip - I’ve been on the receiving end of that one several times. But this stuff these people are writing is indisputably abysmal!

Huh. So that's what happened to FFF. I just came back from a four-month deployment two weeks ago and noticed there were no updates since the beginning of November.

Le sigh. TR is what GAFF was ten years ago..and not just in the "Oh noes, Female Character X is getting bashed by Y/Z shippers" bad. Fucked up shit bad, like the DBZ abortion fetish fanfic, or one of the last entried involving ET implanting Elliot with an ass vagina, and coming back to him as a teenager...to place Elliot into his alien womb.

... Goodnight, everybody! [/Yakko Warner]

Damn. I LIKED Topless Robot. But we don't want the widdle badfic writers to suffer from a fatal loss of self-esteem, I guess.

Not to knock Rob Bricken's other write-ups with TR, but the big pull for the guy WAS FFF. It's what he's known for, just like Doug Walker is more well known as the Nostalgia Critic than Chester A. Bum.

Apparently, Rob's cool with the decision, but why didn't they tell him not to do this ahead of time, if this didn't fit the tone of their site? Hey, if they wanna be thin-skinned pussies, more power to them, but they could have at least did that so people would have had a heads up that the column was going bye-bye.

I suppose the site owner didn't realise the large proportion of people who both read io9 and are incredibly precious about their mickey mouse rapefic would riot on the comments page about the evil evil meanie.

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Could you allow Rob to do a weekly feature with a similar amount of humor, but perhaps with not so controversial a subject matter?

Controversial? Really?

You want him to snark something that everyone agrees is bad? Everyone in the world. Murder or something? But that would be shaming murderers. At least there is enough creative freedom in that only a similar amount of humour is needed. Wouldn't want to be too prescriptive.